The Worcestershire Historic Towns Survey
The information on the
historic
towns
of
Worcestershire is based
on work carried out in
1992-95 as part of
English
Heritage’s
Extensive Urban Survey
initiative. The project
was called the Central
Marches
Historic
Towns
Survey.
Archaeologists from the
County Council studied
the historic towns of
Worcestershire,
Herefordshire
and
Shropshire, and wrote a
report on each of the 64 smaller towns in these historic counties. Worcester,
Hereford and Shrewsbury were excluded, as they are covered by a different
English Heritage initiative.
The survey looked at all the evidence for each town up to 1800. Nineteenth and
twentieth century developments were excluded from the project, as were
settlements which only became towns after 1800, such as Malvern.
The reports were written for professional archaeologists and those who manage
the historic environment and work with planning authorities, rather than for a
general audience. They provide a detailed understanding of each town based on
the information available in 1995/96.
What is a town?
This seems to be a simple question, but the answer can be complicated. It is not
just about size. Some very small settlements were towns, and other quite large
settlements have never been towns.
Historians have developed a range of criteria which they use to gauge whether a
settlement can be called a town, as opposed to a village. For the medieval period
these criteria depend on the survival of documents about the town describing its
legal status, who lived there, and whether markets and fairs were held there.
Essentially, a town is considered to be a settlement where most people did not
make their living from farming.
Archaeologists consider all the evidence for the different activities which took
place in a settlement, in order to decide whether it can be counted as a town. In a
town, there would be archaeological evidence for crafts, industries and trade as
well as farming.
This document is based on work carried out by researchers from the county
archaeology service. They made use of historical documents and maps as well
as archaeological evidence to establish what activities took place in settlements
in Worcestershire in the past. They came up with a list of 13 historic towns, some
which have been towns since the Roman period, such as Droitwich, and others
which can only be counted as towns for a brief period, such as Clifton-uponTeme. The project had specific national aims which meant that the city of
Worcester was excluded, as well as any towns which developed after 1800, such
as Malvern.
Historic Towns Map
Bibliography
The books listed here give information about different aspects of all
Worcestershire towns, or about towns in general.
If you live in Worcestershire, you can look up books that are in the library on the
online catalogue http://opac.worcestershire.gov.uk/TalisPrism/index.html
General
Aston, M, 2000 Monasteries in the landscape, Stroud
Bond, J, 2004 Monastic landscapes, Stroud
Dyer, C, 2002 Making a living in the middle ages: the people of Britain 850–1520,
New Haven
Ekwall, E, 1987 The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names, Oxford, 4
edn
Jones, B and Mattingly, D, 1990 An atlas of Roman Britain, Oxford
Mawer, A, and Stenton, F M, 1927 The place-names of Worcestershire,
Cambridge
Morris, R, 1989 Churches in the landscape
Platt, C, 1969 The monastic grange in medieval England
Platt, C, 1981 The parish churches of medieval England
Rivet, A L F, and Smith, C, 1979 The placenames of Roman Britain
Salway, P, 1981 Roman Britain, Oxford
Trinder, B, 1987 The making of the industrial landscape
Towns in general
Burnham, B C, and Wacher, J, 1990 The small towns of Roman Britain, London
Lloyd, D W, 1984 The making of English towns: 2000 years of evolution, London
Miller, E, and Hatcher, J, 1995 Medieval England: towns, commerce and crafts
1086–1348, London
Ottaway, P, 1992 Archaeology in British towns, London
Quiney, A, 2003 Town houses of medieval Britain, New Haven
Schofield, J, and Vince, A, 2003 Medieval towns, London
Waller, P (ed) 2000 The English urban landscape, Oxford
Worcestershire in general
Atkin, M, 1995 The Civil War in Worcestershire, Stroud
Berkeley, M, 1925 Some old Worcestershire inns, Trans Worcestershire
Archaeological Society 2 ser, 2, 96-97
Berkeley, M, 1929 Some old Worcestershire stocks, Trans Worcestershire
Archaeolological Society 2 ser, 6, 132-133
Berkeley, M, 1934 Some old Worcestershire water mills, Trans Worcestershire
Archaeological Society, 2 ser, 11, 14-32
Bond, C J, 1988 Church and parish in Norman Worcestershire, in Minsters and
parish churches: the local church in transition 950-1200, (ed J Blair), Oxford
University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 17, 119-158
Bridges, T, 2000 Churches of Worcestershire, Almeley
Hilton, R, 1966 A medieval society: the west midlands at the end of the thirteenth
century
Hooke, D, 1985 The Anglo-Saxon landscape: the kingdom of the Hwicce,
Manchester
Hooke, D, 1990 Worcestershire Anglo-Saxon charter-bounds, Woodbridge
Pevsner, N, 1968 The buildings of England: Worcestershire
RCHME 1986 Non-conformist chapels and meeting houses: Herefordshire,
Worcestershire, Warwickshire
Smith, C N S, 1957 A catalogue of the prehistoric finds from Worcestershire,
Trans Worcestershire Archaeological Society, 2 ser, 34, 1-27
Thorn, F, and Thorn, C (eds), 1982 Domesday Book: Worcestershire, Chichester
VCH Worcs Victoria history of the county of Worcestershire, Willis-Bund, J (ed), 4
vols, 1906-24
Walker, I W, 2000 Mercia and the making of England, Stroud
Walters, H, 1931 The church bells of Worcestershire, Trans Worcestershire
Archaeological Society, 8, 8
Antiquarian descriptions
Allies, J, 1852 Antiquities and folklore of Worcestershire, 2 edn
Chandler, J, 1993 John Leland's itinerary: travels in Tudor England
Nash, T, 1795 Collections for the history of Worcestershire
Nash, T, 1781-2 Collections for the history of Worcestershire
Noake, J, 1848 The rambler in Worcestershire
Noake, J, 1851 The rambler: or stray notes on churches and congregations
Worcestershire towns
Andrews, F B, 1913 Town houses of timber structure in Worcestershire, Trans
Birmingham Archaeological Society, 38, 38-39
Dalwood, H, 2000 The archaeology of small towns in Worcestershire, Trans
Worcestershire Archaeological Society, 3 ser, 17, 215-221
Dyer, C, 1992 The hidden trade of the middle ages: evidence from the west
midlands of England, Journal of Historical Geography 18 (2), 141-57
Slater, T R, 1982 Urban genesis and medieval town plans in Warwickshire and
Worcestershire, in T R Slater and P J Davies (eds) Field and forest, 173-202
Slater, T, R, 1990 English medieval new towns with composite plans: evidence
from the Midlands, in T Slater (ed) The built form of western cities, Leicester, 6082
Artefacts and past environment
Eames, E S, 1980 Catalogue of medieval lead glazed earthenware tiles in the
Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, 2 vols
Porter, A S, 1988 The ancient encaustic tiles of Worcestershire, Associated
Architecture Soc Rep Pap, 19, 158-9
Shotton, F W, 1978 Archaeological inferences from the study of alluvium in the
lower Severn-Avon valleys, in S Limbrey and J G Evans (eds) The effect of man
on the landscape: the lowland zone, CBA Res Rep, 21 Available from:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/library/cba/rr21.cfm (accessed 21 June 2005)
Vince, A G, 1983 The medieval ceramic industry of the Severn Valley,
unpublished PhD thesis, University of Southampton. Available from:
http://www.postex.demon.co.uk/thesis/thesis.htm (accessed 21 June 2005)
Worcestershire ceramics: on-line database of all the types of pottery used, as
well as made, in Worcestershire from prehistory to c 1900AD:
http://www.worcestershireceramics.org
Glossary of terms
AD
This is the shortened form of the Latin term
'Anno Domini' which means 'the year of our
Lord' in the Christian calendar. It refers to dates
in the Christian calendar after the year Jesus is
believed to have been born. This dictionary was
written in the year AD 2005. 'AD' is not usually
used for dates after about 1000.
Almshouses
Almshouses usually date from the postmedieval period. They were usually established
in towns, and were independent charitable
institutions for the care of elderly people who
were unable to look after themselves.
Anchorite
During the medieval period an anchorite was a
religious recluse, similar to a hermit. Hermits
often lived alone and far from other people, but
the word anchorite is used for individuals who
lived alone in a cell within a church or friary.
Antiquarian
This word is used to describe scholars who
studied artefacts and monuments of the past
before the principles and methods of modern
archaeology were developed.
Anglo-Saxon period
In England this refers to the early medieval
period between the 5th century and the 11th
century.
BC
This is the shortened for of the term 'Before
Christ'. It refers to dates in the Christian
calendar before the year Jesus is believed to
have been born. It is usually used after the date,
eg 150 BC.
Borough
This was originally a medieval word meaning
town, which developed from the word 'burh'. A
borough was created when the King granted a
charter for a particular settlement.
Bottle-oven
This is a type of post-medieval kiln for firing
pottery which was named because of its shape.
The oven chamber is cylindrical, brick-built with
a domed roof, fired from multiple fireboxes
arranged around the circumference. The fuel is
usually coal.
BUFAU
Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit
Burgess
Townspeople, tradesmen or craftsmen, who
rented plots of land (burgages) and who had
rights in the town to carry out their trade. Not all
townspeople were burgesses. Burgesses had
status within the town, they were the head of
their household, and were usually men, but if
there was no son, a wife might carry on her
husband's business after his death.
Burgage
Plot of land in a town that was rented out by the
landowner to an inhabitant of the town who paid
an annual rent, traditionally 12 pence. Typically
narrow street frontage, laid out in a regular
fashion.
Burh
This word is used for Anglo-Saxon towns. All
burhs had a military function and were
surrounded by a defensive bank and ditch.
Some were also important trading centres.
cal AD or cal BC (see
radiocarbon dating)
When an object has been dated using
radiocarbon dating, the result is a date range,
for example cal AD 1350-1450. Here, 'cal' is
short for 'calibrated radiocarbon date'.
Century
A century is a period of 100 years. The 1st
century AD was from 0 to 99, the 2nd century
from 100 to 199. This is why, for example, the
12th century is the years from 1100 to 1199, or
the 19th century from 1800-1899.
Cess pit
A cess pit is a deep straight-sided pit which was
used as a toilet before flushing lavatories and
mains drainage were available.
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church subordinate to the
parish church. In a large parish a chapel of ease
might be established so people would not have
a long journey to church each week.
Charter
A charter is a legal document from the King to a
landowner when a town was established. It sets
out rules and regulations for the economy of the
town, for example how many fairs could be held
each year, and when markets could take place.
Civil War
The English Civil War lasted nine years, during
which there were three periods of fighting,
1642-46, 1648, and 1650-51. The final battle of
the Civil War was fought at Worcester in 1651.
Cropmark
Evidence of buried archaeological deposits can
be revealed in growing crops. Buried walls can
cause stunted growth and early ripening plants,
and buried ditches can cause better growth and
late ripening plants. The patterns of these can
reveal underlying archaeological sites.
Deposit
This is the word archaeologists use for any kind
of layer of earth, stone or organic material which
was created in the past, and which could be
excavated. A deposit might include gravel laid
along a path, or the gradual silting up of a ditch,
or the fill of a cess pit.
Dissolution
By the 16th century there were hundreds of
monasteries in England which were major
institutions and owned about a quarter of the
land in England. Between 1536 and 1540 Henry
VIII broke up these institutions and took all the
land and buildings into royal control. The
monastic estates were sold, the monks were
pensioned off, and the lay servants were
dismissed. Many monasteries were sold and the
buildings were reused or demolished.
Domesday Book
The Domesday Book was commissioned in
December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who
invaded England in 1066. The first draft was
completed in August 1086 and contained
records for 13,418 estates in the English
counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees
(the border with Scotland at the time).
Earthwork
Buried archaeological deposits may show as
humps and bumps above ground.
Archaeologists call these earthworks.
Estate
An estate was a defined large landholding.
From early medieval times land might be owned
by the King, by monasteries or by members of
the aristocracy.
Fair
In the medieval period fairs were held in towns,
usually on an annual basis, and lasted for three
days. Merchants would come to the town to sell
their goods, and large numbers of people would
come from the town and surrounding areas to
buy things which were not normally available
locally.
Feature
This is the word archaeologists use for
something standing on or dug into the ground.
Friar, Friary
Friars were members of one of a number of
religious orders established from the 13th
century. The institutions themselves were called
Friaries, and were often found in towns. Orders
of Friars focused on preaching and religious
instruction of the population.
Georgian
Georgian is an architectural style of building
which developed in the 18th century. Historically
the Georgian period covers the reigns of the
first four Georges, between 1714 and 1830.
Geophysical survey
Archaeologists use different techniques of
geophysical survey to detect buried structures
and deposits. These techniques do not involve
disturbing the ground, unlike archaeological
excavation. Geophysical survey gives a general
idea of buried deposits, rather than the detailed
picture which can be obtained from excavation.
Holloway
A holloway is a sunken lane or road, usually
going up a hill, which was gradually cut into the
ground and can be anything from half a metre to
several metres deep. Some are still in use,
others are earthworks which reveal the line of a
now disused road or track.
Hospital (medieval)
A hospital was a medieval institution owned by
the church which cared for people who could
not support themselves or whose families could
not care for them. Although the sick and the
elderly were cared for in hospitals, they were
provided with food and shelter, rather than
medical treatment. Some hospitals specialised
in care for those suffering from leprosy.
HWCC
Hereford and Worcester County Council
HWCM
Hereford and Worcester County Monument
number. This was the prefix used for Sites and
Monuments Record numbers, which has now
been replaced by WSM (Worcestershire Sites
and Monuments) for sites in Worcestershire.
Iron Age
In England this is the period from about 700 BC
to AD 43.
Leland
John Leland travelled throughout England and
Wales in the 16th century. He wrote an account
of his extensive travels which includes
descriptions of the places he visited. This is a
valuable source of information about what
places looked like at the time, and is often the
earliest description of the towns he visited
Manor
The medieval countryside was divided into
thousands of manors, each owned by a Lord of
the Manor, who might be a member of the
aristocracy, the abbot of a monastery or the
King. The manor controlled most aspects of
economic and social life, and manorial courts
administered justice.
Market
Towns held weekly markets when townspeople
and people from surrounding areas could come
to buy and sell goods and animals.
Market place
The market was held in the main street of the
town, and in some cases also in an open space
designated as a market place.
Medieval period
In England archaeologists use this for the
period between the Norman Conquest in 1066
and the Dissolution of the monasteries around
1540, and this is how it is used for this website.
Defining 'medieval' can be quite complicated,
however. In Europe it can mean the time
between the collapse of the Roman Empire and
the Renaissance in the 15th century.
Mill
Every town had at least one mill which was
used to grind wheat and other grains into flour.
Medieval mills were powered using a
waterwheel.
Minster (church)
This word is used for major Anglo-Saxon
churches.
Norman
Norman refers to an architectural style of the
late 11th and 12th century which is seen in
churches, monasteries and castles.
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest is the military conquest
of England by William, Duke of Normandy, in
1066. The English army was defeated at the
Battle of Hastings and King Harold was killed. A
new ruling dynasty was established, and the
lands owned by the English aristocracy were
given to Norman lords.
Palaeoenvironmental
Some archaeologists specialise in biological
evidence relating to the past, which can include
both plant and animal remains. The word
means 'relating to the past environment'.
Post-Roman period
This term is used as a label for the period
between the end of Roman Imperial
organisation in AD 410 and the establishment of
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the west midlands
this was as late as the 7th century.
Post-medieval period
Archaeologists use this term for the period from
1540 on. Some give the post-medieval period
an end date, which may be as early as 1750 or
as late as 1900. The study on which this
website is based used the date range 1540 to
1800.
Pound
A pound was an enclosure used to hold stray
cattle or other animals.
Precinct
An abbey precinct is the area enclosed by the
walls or boundaries which separated the
grounds and buildings from the surrounding
town or land.
Prehistoric (Neolithic,
Bronze Age, Iron Age)
The prehistoric period literally means the period
before written history. In England the prehistoric
period is the general term which includes the
Iron Age (about 700 BC to AD 43), the Bronze
Age (about 2500 BC to about 700 BC), the
Neolithic (about 4000 BC to about 2500 BC),
the Mesolithic (about 7000 BC to about 4000
BC), and the Palaeolithic.
Radiocarbon dating
This is a scientific method used by
archaeologists to find out how old certain
materials are. It can only be used for organic
materials, that is, things that have been alive,
such as wood or bone. This technique can
never give a precise date, it will provide a date
range for the object tested.
Ridge and furrow
These are earthworks resulting from a particular
method of ploughing which left a long low
mound of earth 1-5m wide and as long as the
field. Ridge and furrow formed during the
medieval period is often gently curved in a
backwards 'S' shape, called 'reverse S-shaped'.
Post medieval ridge and furrow is usually
narrower and straight.
Roman period
In England this is the period between the
Roman conquest in AD 43 and the end of
Roman Britain in AD 410.
Salvage recording
This is the same as a watching brief, which is
when an archaeologist monitors work being
carried out by builders or developers, usually to
record any archaeological deposits revealed
when foundations or service trenches are dug.
Saxon
See Anglo-Saxon.
Shambles
This word refers to butcher's stalls, usually in
the market. Animals were slaughtered and
butchered there, so shambles were likely to be
messy, smelly places.
Tanning, tanning pits
Leather is produced from animal skins by a
process called tanning. The skins are soaked
for a long time in a sequence of strong-smelling
solutions in tanning pits to preserve animal
hides and turn them into leather.
Tenement plot
A tenement plot is a piece of land in a
settlement. The term is used for the historic
towns of Worcestershire to refer to house plots
or groups of house plots in the towns.
Timber framed
Timber framed buildings are constructed using
a rectangular structural framework of wood
Town
See 'What is a town' page.
Trow
A 'Severn Trow' is a particular type of sailing
vessel used to transport goods up and down the
River Severn which could be used in quite
shallow water.
Turnpike road
In the 18th century turnpike roads were
established. Tolls were collected to pay for the
upkeep of the roads at gates, called turnpikes,
at either end.
Watching brief
A watching brief is when an archaeologist
monitors work being carried out by builders or
developers, usually to record any
archaeological deposits revealed when
foundations or service trenches are dug.
Workhouse
Workhouses intended to house destitute and
homeless people are known from the 17th
century but became common after the 1834
Poor Law Amendment Act when no aid was
given to poor people unless they lived in the
Work house. They covered one or more
parishes. The work house system was
abolished in 1929 although some persisted into
the 1940's
WRO
Worcestershire Records Office
WSM
Worcestershire Sites and Monuments number.
This is the prefix used for records held by the
county Historic Environment Record. Contact
the HER for further details of any individual site.